Cotton humidifier



A ril 10, 1934. c. s. HERRING 1,954,333

COTTON HUMIDIFIER Filed July 21, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor.

Clyde 5'. Her'm'ny flllorney April 1934- c. s. HERRING 1,954,383

COTTON HUMIDIFIER Filed July 21, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N u g,

Inventor Clyde 5 Herrz'nf By 2mm.

Patented Apr. 10, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for applying moisture to cotton before the cotton passes through the gin, the general object of the invention being to provide spray means in that part of the feeding portion of the gin located between the cleaner and the gin stand with means for employing low pressure steam as a spray medium so that the cotton passing through said feed portion will be moistened to insure the proper ginning of the cotton.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic View of a ginning device with the mechanism therein and a furnace used for drying the cotton before it is ginned, this figure also showing the parts forming the invention.

Figure 2 is a View showing the heating coils in the furnace, the furnace being shown in dotted lines.

Figure 3 is a view of the spray means.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the coils.

As is well known, in order to properly clean cotton before it is ginned, it is necessary that it be dried by artificial means at the gin. After the cotton is dried, if it is ginned in that condition the fibre is broken and the sample will not be uniform, and it is therefore necessary to put back a certain amount of moisture in the cotton before it passes through the gin. Usually the drying means are located in a building separate from the building containing the gin and the cotton is passed through the drying means in the first mentioned building and as the cotton passes from the drying means, it is blown against a screen and falls into a hopper, from which it is conveyed to the cleaning means in the gin house. From the cleaning means, the cotton passes to a distributor which conveys the cotton to the gin.

The object of my invention is to furnish the cotton with sufiicient necessary moisture for the cotton passing to the gin from the distributor and in carrying out my invention I have placed duced in the coils is fed through a pipe 5 to the sprayer pipe 6 located in the distributor '7 which is located between the feeder 8 and the cleaner 9. Thus a low pressure steam is supplied to the cotton as it passes from the feeder into the gin stand 10 so that the cotton will have a sufficient amount of moisture as it is passing through the gin. It will be seen that moisture is not supplied to the cotton until after it has passed through the cleaner, to which the cotton is supplied from the dryer. Thus the cotton is moistened after it has been dried and cleaned and before it passes to the gin.

A safety valve 11 is arranged in the pipe 5 and a two-way valve 12 is located in the pipe 5 and a discharge pipe 13 leads from said valve. A branch pipe 14 having a valve 15 therein connects the pipe 5 to the supply pipe 2. Thus by closing the valve 3 and opening the valve 15 the water will flow directly to the pipe 5 and by attaching a hose or the like to the pipe 13 and positioning the valve 12 so that the water in the pipe 12 will enter the pipe 13 the device can be used as a fire extinguisher.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a gin and means for conveying cotton thereinto and a furnace for heating the cotton before it is cleaned, a coil in the furnace, means for supplying water thereto, a pipe leading from the coil into said conveying means and a perforated pipe connected to the discharge end of the pipe and located in the conveying means, a branch pipe connecting the supply pipe to the pipe which connects the coil to the spraying means, a valve in the branch pipe, a valve in the supply pipe, a needle valve in said supply pipe, a two-way valve in the steam pipe, and a discharge'pipe connected thereto.

2. In combination with a gin, means for com veying cotton thereinto from a cleaner and a furnace for heating the cotton before it is cleaned; a coil in the furnace, means for supplying water thereto, a perforated pipe located in that part of the conveying means which discharges into the gin, and a pipe connecting the coil with the perforated pipe whereby the cotton, just before it enters the gin, is moistened by the steam.

CLYDE S. HERRING. 

